India recently passed an ordinance to strengthen its sexual-assault laws, but ignored some key suggestions made by a committee created to boost these laws.

On Sunday, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee signed the ordinance which is based largely on recommendations made by a three-member panel headed by former Chief Justice of India J.S. Verma.

The ordinance needs to be ratified by the parliament to become law.

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The government has differed with the Verma panel on several key recommendations. For instance, the ordinance increased the maximum punishment for rape to death penalty, even though the Verma panel opposed this. Meanwhile, the ordinance has ignored some recommendations like removing barriers for trying armed forces personnel for sexual-abuse, and a suggestion to recognize marital rape.

Here we look at how the ordinance stacks up against some key recommendations of the Verma committee.

1. Death Penalty

Verma Committee: The panel categorically rejected the death penalty for an assailant, even when an act of sexual assault leads to the victim’s death or pushes her into a coma. It said that such a penalty would be “regressive”, at a time when 150 countries have abolished the death sentence.

Ordinance: The ordinance, however, calls for a maximum punishment of death in a situation where rape causes the victim to die or be in a “persistent vegetative state”. It also provides for death sentence for “repeat offenders”, or persons who have been previously convicted for rape.

Till now, the maximum penalty for rape was life imprisonment.

2. Acid Attacks

Verma Committee: It recommended making acid attacks and attempted acid attacks, criminal offenses. The panel asked for a minimum punishment of 10 years for someone “voluntarily causing grievous hurt through the use of acid.” It said the perpetrator should be required to financially compensate the victim, including covering related medical expenses at the least.

Ordinance: While the ordinance makes acid attacks a criminal offense and accepted Verma panel’s terms of punishment, it makes no mention of financial compensation for the victim.

3. Marital Rape

Verma Committee: India’s criminal law currently doesn’t recognize marital rape. According to Indian Penal Code’s Section 375: “Sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under 16 years of age, is not sexual assault.”

The Verma panel recommended removing this exception, saying that the law can’t presume consensual sex in marriage.

Ordinance: The ordinance ignores this recommendation.

4. Breach of Command Responsibility

Verma Committee: It recommended that punishment be defined for a “public servant in command, control or supervision of the police or armed forces,” who neglects or fails to take necessary measures to prevent sexual assault. For persons found guilty of this offence, the committee suggested a maximum punishment of 10 years.

Ordinance: The ordinance ignores this recommendation.

5. Rape of an Underage Person

Verma Committee: It asked that India’s criminal law create a separate punishment for someone who rapes an underage person, defined as someone who is 16 years or younger. The panel called for a minimum punishment of 10 years for such a rape.

If the victim were to die, the Verma panel said the attacker should be given a minimum punishment of 20 years.

Ordinance: The ordinance ignores this recommendation.

6. Rape by the State

Verma Committee: The committee recommended amending the Armed Forces Special Powers Act , which currently requires that the central government give a sanction before armed forces personnel in Kashmir and other conflict areas, can be tried for rapes or sexual assault. The panel suggested getting rid of this clause.

Ordinance: The ordinance ignores this recommendation.

7. Sexual Assault

Verma Committee: The panel had proposed broadening what legally constitutes sexual assault, to include voyeurism, stalking, and an assault with the intent to disrobe a woman. The panel said that words, acts or gestures which “create an unwelcome threat of a sexual assault,” should also be considered sexual assault.

Ordinance: The ordinance accepts this recommendation, and makes ‘stalking’ an offence for which the stalker can be punished for a maximum of three years.

8. Trafficking

Verma Committee: The committee asked for a separate punishment for people who engage in trafficking of women and children, with a maximum punishment of life imprisonment. It also recommended making it criminal for someone to employ a person who was trafficked.

Ordinance: The ordinance accepts all recommendations on redefining and punishing the offence of trafficking. The sentence for employing a trafficked child would range from five to seven years.

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